Photo: AFP / Nur Photo
New Zealand middle-distance runner Maia Ramsden has smashed an 18-year-old national record, which looks set to book her a place at the world indoor championships.
Ramsden was third in the women's mile at the Last Chance National Qualifier meet at Boston University in four minutes and 21.56 seconds - easily going under the mark of former Olympian Kimberley Smith.
Smith - who, like Ramsden, was a US-based runner - set her record of 4:24.14 in New York in 2008.
Ramsden's time also lowered her own national outdoor record, which had stood at 4:24.79.
Indoor performances count as outdoor times for record purposes.
Former Harvard University runner Ramsden is also the owner of the national 1500m record, setting it in the semi-finals at last year's Paris Olympics.
The Boston meet was 22-year-old Ramsden's last chance to qualify for the world championships in Nanjing, China later this month.
Her time is still pending official ratification but she appears to have done enough to earn selection, going well under the World Athletics entry standard time of 4:22.50.
Racing for the On Athletics Club (OAC) - a small group of elite athletes based full-time at a facility in Boulder, Colorado - Ramsden featured prominently in a fast-paced race.
American Heather MacLean won in a blistering time of 4:17.01, while Ramsden's OAC team-mate Sintayehu Vissa was second in 4:21.51, pipping the New Zealander by just 0.05sec.
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